Kings become minnows as Chepauk storm into TNPL final

The holiday crowd of 19,000 had their day out as Chepauk Super Gillies displayed another all-round performance to edge the Kings out. Super Gillies will meet Albert Tuti Patriots in the final on Sunday. Tuti Patriots beat Dindigul Dragons in the first semi-final at Tirunelveli on Friday.

Chepauk batted first scored 161/7 in 20 overs with S Vasanth Saravanan (52 off 39) and K H Gopinath (44 off 33) sizzling with the bat with 76-run partnership. Later, the Kings could only manage 144/9 in 20 overs with W Antony Dhas (3/21) and left-arm spinners R Alexander (2/28) and R Sai Kishore (2/17) choking the Kings. Saravanan was later named the man-of-the-match. 

Electing to bat first after calling it right at the coin spin, Chepauk Super Gillies got off to a flyer with Gopinath taking 20 runs off M Mohammed’s first over, that included three boundaries and one six.

The joy of a rollicking start was short lived when X Thalaivan Sargunam tried to scoop K Vignesh over the wicket-keeper’s head but couldn’t connect. The ball clipped the leg bail and Kings were celebrating a big wicket.

J Gowjith Subash found the going tough and pulled one to the deep square leg fielder to make it 24/2 in the fourth over and Chepauk’s middle order had a job on their hands.

Gopinath and Saravanan then built the Chepauk innings brick by brick. Saravanan took B Arun to the cleaners in the last over of power-play with an immaculate display of stroke making. He first sent a tracer bullet past the bowler for four and then heaved a six over long-on before driving past the mid-off fielder for another boundary. Gillies reached 50/2 in 6 overs.

The boundaries dried up after the power-play but the duo rotated the strike well to keep the scoreboard ticking. Saravanan ended the boundary drought in the 10th over when he lofted M K Sivakumar over long-off for a boundary.

The duo brought their 50-run partnership in 38 balls and stepped up on the gas soon after. Saravanan was good playing the left-arm spinner Syed Mohammed and didn’t hesitate to get on one knee and use the mid-wicket boundary area.

M Mohammed broke the 76-run partnership when Gopinath slashed hard only to find the ball travel to L Suryapprakash at point where the fielder didn’t have to move an inch to pouch the catch.

Saravanan departed soon after getting to his third half-century of the league when he lofted Sivakumar to the deep square leg fence only to find Akshay Srinivasan take it easy down his throat. From 100/2, it became 102/4 and Chepauk were back to a familiar position of losing wickets in a heap.

U Sasidev joined skipper Sathish, with the latter walking in after Gopinath’s wicket, and the two added 36 runs in three overs. Sivakumar was taken off for 19 runs in the 17th over with Sathish and Sasidev clearing the long on fence once each.

Sathish perished for 18 in 13 balls in an attempt to up the ante with his opposite number taking a good swirling catch at long-off. Sasidev was sent back in the same over when he offered a simple catch at short fine leg to be out for 16. W Anthony Dhas and Yo Mahesh provided the fireworks in the end as Chepauk Super Gillies finished at 161/7 in 20 overs.

Kings started on a sedate note and scored at run-a-ball for the first three overs before last match’s hero Ashwath Mukundhan giving away 19 in the fourth. The openers B Anirudh Sita Ram and Suryapprakash found the gaps at will.

The skipper got the breakthrough in the fifth over when he induced a faint nick from Ram for Gopinath to complete a neat catch behind the wicket.

It was then business as usual for Kishore when he bowled a maiden wicket over, his third in the league to reduce Kings to 44/2. R Rohit was caught infront of the wicket when he tried to sweep Kishore.

Suryapprakash and captain Syed Mohammed tried to resurrect the innings but Kishore struck in his next over to remove the skipper, who cut the ball straight into the hands of the backward point fielder, Sasidev.

S Tarun Srinivas joined the opener and the two added 32 runs for the fourth wicket. Srinivas lofted Kishore to the long-on area while Suryapprakash took the covers region off Alexander to ease the nerves in the Kings camp.

Chepauk Super Gillies then got the big breakthrough of the set batsman, Suryapprakash for 38 when the batsman lobbed the ball into Thalaivan’s hands at cover point. With 74 needed in a little more than 7 overs, Kings had a task on their hands.

With the required run-rate climbing steadily, to 11 at this point, it was clear that Kings had to accelerate to stay in the hunt. Srinivas stepped out to Alexander in an attempt to heave the left-arm spinner out of the park, but missed connecting the ball and Gopinath made no mistake behind the stumps.

A Srinivasan then tried to step up on the gas when he hit Yo Mahesh for a four in the third man region and six with a huge heave over midwicket. But with 28 required in the last two overs, Mahesh bowled a brilliant penultimate over to get the equation down to 22 in six balls and it was out of Kings’ reach.